Ethics won't form Aaron Schock subcommittee

The House Ethics Committee will not form a special investigative panel to probe allegations that GOP Rep. Aaron Schock (Ill.) improperly solicited super PAC contributions from other Republican lawmakers, including Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.). But it is not dropping the case either.

An Office of Congressional Ethics report from August called for a full-scale investigation into the case. In addition, OCE found that there was “substantial reason to believe” that Schock violated federal law in seeking the contributions.

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The OCE report also states that a senior Republican staffer who formerly worked for Cantor — Rob Collins — refused to cooperate with OCE investigators when they looked into the matter. Collins is now the executive director of the National Republican Senatorial Committee.

Rodney Davis, a former aide to Rep. John Shimkus (R-Ill.), and two top Schock campaign aides also did not cooperate with the OCE review.

OCE recommended the Ethics Committee subpoena all four men. OCE does not have authority to issue its own subpoenas.

But Reps. Michael Conaway (R-Texas) and Linda Sanchez (D-Calif.), Ethics chairman and ranking member, announced Thursday that they will continue to probe the allegations against Schock under their own authority but will not create a special investigative panel.

The decision by Conaway and Sanchez makes it unlikely that Schock will ever be sanctioned by the Ethics Committee.

The allegations against Schock stemmed from a bitter GOP primary battle in Illinois last year between Rep. Adam Kinzinger and former Rep. Don Mazullo.

Schock backed Kinzinger in the primary, and he began asking other members like Cantor for campaign contributions in order to run TV ads supporting Kinzinger. The money, including a $25,000 donation from Cantor’s leadership fund, was funneled to a super PAC called the Campaign for Primary Accountability, which spent more than $200,000 on the race on Kinzinger’s behalf.